Beasts of the Southern Wild
19/12/16 Filed in: TV
We recorded this film a considerable time ago as it had received very good reviews, although I didn't know much about the story. Yesterday evening we finally got around to watching it.
It is said to be a response to the Hurricane Katrina disaster although the setting is fictional. It is certainly an unusual film that verges on fantasy, but I've no doubt that there are bayou communities in Louisiana that exist in such poverty and are at such risk from rising sea levels.
The star of the film is Hushpuppy, brilliantly played by Quvenzhané Wallis, who was 6 at the time of the filming. At the age of 9 she became the youngest Best Actress nominee in the history of the Oscars. In the film she lives with her father, Wink, in a ramshackle home raised above the ground in deference to the constant risk of flooding. Wink and Hushpuppy seem to have a fraught relationship as they literally just survive in the hostile environment, not that either of them complains too much. Their neighbours are equally bizarre, although apparently reasonably content with their way of life. As if things aren't difficult enough, a major storm is forecast and everybody makes preparations as best they can, although in the aftermath the raised homes prove to be largely inadequate against the freak weather.
It is said to be a response to the Hurricane Katrina disaster although the setting is fictional. It is certainly an unusual film that verges on fantasy, but I've no doubt that there are bayou communities in Louisiana that exist in such poverty and are at such risk from rising sea levels.
The star of the film is Hushpuppy, brilliantly played by Quvenzhané Wallis, who was 6 at the time of the filming. At the age of 9 she became the youngest Best Actress nominee in the history of the Oscars. In the film she lives with her father, Wink, in a ramshackle home raised above the ground in deference to the constant risk of flooding. Wink and Hushpuppy seem to have a fraught relationship as they literally just survive in the hostile environment, not that either of them complains too much. Their neighbours are equally bizarre, although apparently reasonably content with their way of life. As if things aren't difficult enough, a major storm is forecast and everybody makes preparations as best they can, although in the aftermath the raised homes prove to be largely inadequate against the freak weather.
Wink and Hushpuppy tour the devastation in a boat made from the rear end of a pickup truck and rally the community. But the authorities arrive and insist that they are evacuated. They are taken to a medical centre where Wink, who we already know is ill, is put under medical surveillance. This is a community that despite its poverty doesn't want help from officialdom and Wink, still in his surgical robe, leaves the clinic with Hushpuppy and the others to return home.
The 'Beasts' of the films title are colossal boars that Hushpuppy sees coming out of the swamp. Illusions, no doubt, that trouble the child, as does the thought of melting glaciers that she has learnt about at school, and that will eventually lead to the destruction of her home. Yes, there is a school, but not one you would immediately recognise as such.
This is a thought-provoking film that allows us to see poverty, community spirit, personal relationships and the effects of a natural disaster through the eyes of a quite remarkable 6 year-old child. It's certainly different to anything else you're likely to see.
The 'Beasts' of the films title are colossal boars that Hushpuppy sees coming out of the swamp. Illusions, no doubt, that trouble the child, as does the thought of melting glaciers that she has learnt about at school, and that will eventually lead to the destruction of her home. Yes, there is a school, but not one you would immediately recognise as such.
This is a thought-provoking film that allows us to see poverty, community spirit, personal relationships and the effects of a natural disaster through the eyes of a quite remarkable 6 year-old child. It's certainly different to anything else you're likely to see.